Editing Recording format (section)

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[[File:Cylinder Head Sector.svg|thumb|300px|right|A cylinder, head, and sector of a hard drive. The sectors are a recording container format. The digital data on the disks may be both secondary [[Container format (digital)|container file formats]] and raw digital data content formats such as digital audio or ASCII encoded text.]]
[[File:WorldMapLongLat-eq-circles-tropics-non.png|thumb|440px|A map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically). The lines are a grid, a method for dividing and containing recorded [[cartographical]] data. The land masses and oceans are cartographical data in a raw content ([[pictorial]] graphical) format. The text is in an [[alphanumeric]]al symbolic raw content format.]]
A '''recording format ''' is a [[content format|format]] for encoding data for storage on a [[storage medium]]. The format can be container information such as [[Cylinder-head-sector|sectors]] on a disk, or user/audience information ([[Content (media and publishing)|content]]) such as [[analog signal|analog]] [[stereo]] [[Sound recording and reproduction|audio]].  Multiple levels of encoding may be achieved in one format. For example, a text encoded page may contain [[HTML]] and [[XML]] encoding, combined in a [[plain text]] file format, using either [[EBCDIC]] or [[ASCII]] character encoding, on a [[Universal Disk Format|UDF]] [[Digital data|digital]]ly formatted disk.  

In [[electronic media]], the primary format is the encoding that requires hardware to interpret (decode) data; while secondary encoding is interpreted by secondary [[signal processing]] methods, usually [[computer software]].